


Fights with the Neighbor

by arcadesintheneighbourhood



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Eleven (Stranger Things)'s Eggos, F/M, Fights, Fluff, also some major mileven fluff, the party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 12:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13247802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcadesintheneighbourhood/pseuds/arcadesintheneighbourhood
Summary: “You totally rigged the machine, dude!”Oh no, Will thinks. He turns to his right to exchange looks with Dustin, but his friend is already headed towards the bathroom, shooting Will an expression that reads “Nope! I’m not dealing with this when I have to pee!”Mike and Lucas have been getting into more fights lately, and time can change relationships.





	Fights with the Neighbor

“You totally rigged the machine, dude!”

 _Oh no_ , Will thinks. He turns to his right to exchange looks with Dustin, but his friend is already headed towards the bathroom, shooting Will an expression that reads “Nope! I’m not dealing with this when I have to pee!”

“What the hell, Lucas? No I didn’t!” Mike retaliates, scrunching up his face in annoyance.

“Um, yeah… you did!” Lucas points at him accusingly. “I heard you whispering to El the last time we visited the cabin! You were probably convincing her to use her powers on the machine!”

“Are you kidding? I would never ask El to use her powers for me!” Mike’s face falters from anger to hurt, in disbelief Lucas would suggest such a thing, then his expression returns back to rage. “Unlike you, I don’t take advantage of my girlfriend’s skills!”

_Uh oh. Not this again._

“Are you kidding me, Mike? We’re having this argument again?” Lucas rolls up his sleeves. “Fine, you want to go. Let’s go!”

“FINE!”

“Guys… please don’t fight…” Will tries to separate them by steadying each of his hands on his friends’ shoulders.

“No!” Lucas slaps Will’s hand away. “Ever since Max joined the group, you’ve been an asshole. You say she’s a ‘member of the party’ but you never invite her to anything!”

“I do so!”

“When?”

“I-I-I-“ Mike stutters.

“I-I-“ Lucas mimics. “See? You can’t even think of one time when you’ve asked her to go to the arcade with us!”

“Well if I’ve been a jerk to Max, then you’ve been an asshole to El!”

‘What?” Lucas cries out. “Since when? Mike, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about six Thursdays in a row, you’ve been late visiting El!”

“Hey! If it bugs her so much than she could tell me, not you! Sounds like you’re just using your girlfriend as an excuse to be a dickhead!”

“Oh my god,” Will hears Dustin sigh as he comes back from the bathroom and stands next to him. “Are these idiots still fighting?”

“Yup,” Will echoes Dustin’s sighs. “This is bad. It’s what, their third fight in two days?”

“Guess our plan to get them to go to the arcade with us didn’t work,” Dustin pauses to think for a moment. “We’re back to square one. Unless…” He raises his eyebrows at Will knowingly.

“Ohhhhh… ” Will nods in agreement. “You’re right.”

Time to implement their backup plan.

“Hey, guys,” Will interrupts, his voice raised this time. Of course, Mike and Lucas are too busy bickering to notice.

“ASSHOLES!” Dustin interjects instead. “WILL’S TRYING TO TALK!”

 _Thank god for Dustin_ , Will smiles as he attempts the backup plan he and Dustin came up with last night.

“Why don’t we all go to El’s instead?” Will tries to sound as upbeat as possible. “I can call my mom and she can take us. She’s been meaning to see Hopper this week, anyway.”

“I’m not going if he’s going,” Lucas crosses his arms stubbornly. At Lucas’ refusal, Mike’s face darkens to a deeper shade of red.

“I don’t want you going to see El anyway!” He yells.

“HEY!” Lucas shouts back, his hands balled into two fists. “EL’S MY FRIEND, TOO, MIKE!”

“FRIENDS AREN’T LATE SIX THURSDAYS IN A ROW!”

“WELL FRIENDS ALSO INVITE OTHER FRIENDS TO THE ARCADE, AND YOU HAVEN’T INVITED MAX ONCE!”

“You know, what?” Mike throws his hands up at Lucas, fed up with fighting. “I’m going to visit El myself.”

“Thanks a lot, guys,” Mike mutters to Will and Dustin as he brushes past them to exit the arcade, slamming the door behind him.

“Well then. I’m going back home, too,” Lucas tells Will and Dustin through gritted teeth. Oh no… Will knew that face. _Great. Now they’re both mad at us._ “Thanks for inviting him without telling me.”

“Lucas-” Will opens his mouth to explain, but it’s too late- Lucas is already out the door and pedaling down the street on his bike.

“Well, that was a fail,” Dustin says after a few moments.

“I’ll say,” Will’s head pounds with worry. “Should we go after them?” He didn’t want his two best friends mad at each other, and mad at him and Dustin.

“Eh. Lucas just needs some time to pout and Eleven will knock some sense into Mike. We’ll try again tomorrow. Hopefully those idiots cool down by then.”

“Yeah.” Will knew Dustin was right, but still, he couldn’t help but imagine the worst. Mike and Lucas did fight a lot, and even more so in the past few weeks. What if this was the last straw? “I hope they make up soon...”

“Don’t worry. You know Lucas and Mike have been best friends since they were in diapers. Next week, we’ll all be back in Mike’s basement, arguing about Star Wars.” Dustin nudges Will with his elbow. “Now come on. We have six more quarters left. Do you want to try to break Max’s top score on Dig Dug?”

Appreciating his friend’s efforts to cheer him up, Will grins at Dustin, walking over to the Dig Dug machine and inserting the last of their quarters in the slot.

“You’re on.”

*****

 _Lucas_ , Mike thinks grudgingly as he pumps his feet against his bike pedals. Who needed him anyway? Yeah, yeah, they’d been best friends since they were four, lived next door to each other, watched the Star Wars trilogy together, radioed almost every night talking about comics and D and D and arcade games... but that part of their life was over. OVER. Now, Lucas and Dustin were best friends who made inside jokes about Dart and arcade games, that is, whenever Lucas wasn’t hanging and skateboarding around with Max. And Lucas never radioed him unless it was to ask when they were visiting El, but whatever. Mike didn’t care. He was fine! He had El and Hopper and Will and Dustin and Nancy and Steve and Max (although he didn’t know her that well) but still! He had plenty of other people in his life who cared about him. He didn’t need Lucas.

Mike spots the large oak tree on Denfield and swings a right.

_I don’t need him, right?_

Mike pumps his feet faster and faster, reaching the dead end of the road more quickly than usual. He lets the anger fuel his energy. He ignores the tears that streak in ribbons down his face. He ignores the haunting guilt over spewing hurtful words to Lucas. He ignores the pain from the words Lucas has thrown back at him, words Mike has turned over and over in his head at night. Was Mike really a shitty leader and a shitty friend?

As Mike draws closer to the cabin, the tears dry on his chin, but the hurt of losing Lucas is still weighing down on his joints. Thank god he was going to see El. With his best friend slipping away, he was missing her more and more lately. He felt darkness swallowing him whole, like a snake swallowed its prey, just as the grief had in the 353 days he and El had been separated. Sure, they saw each other four, sometimes five, times a week, but it wasn’t enough for him. It wasn’t. He found himself wishing he could see her more often. When she lived in his basement the week Will was missing, he could spend as much time with her as he wanted. Sometimes he wished she still lived there, instead of out in the middle of the woods where Mike couldn’t see her everyday. He thought about holding her hand in school, or maybe in the cafeteria when they ate lunch, or in the hallway while he opened his locker. He knew it was too risky for her to go to school, but he couldn’t help but wish sometimes that there was a way they could be together all the time, so they could be there for each other when either of them felt sad.

Finally, Mike reaches the cozy cabin in the woods. _El El El El_ , his heart drums as he leaps off his bike, rushing to the door to tap his signature knock.

_…

.._.

Immediately, the door swings open and all of Mike’s emotions pour out when he meets El’s eyes.

“Mike?”

“El!” Mike pulls her into his arms and the tears stream down his face again. Rocking her back and forth, back and forth, he crumbles into her arms, never wanting to let go.

“Mike? Mike what’s wrong?” She asks, clutching him tightly.

Mike opens his mouth to explain, but he lets out soft cries instead, unable to hear himself say that he and Lucas may no longer be friends anymore.

“Mike,” El utters his name again, and he knows by the hushed tone of her voice that she understands. El always understands, and realizing this, Mike buries himself deeper into her embrace, letting her rub his back and kiss his head as he weeps into her shoulder.

*****

El pulls more blankets over Mike and kneels down to meet his eyes, still streaming with tears. “Do you want some hot cocoa, Mike?” She places a gentle hand over his, her brown eyes wide and worried. He wants to cry even more at her kindness. He was making her so worried, and that was the the last thing he wanted to do, to bring more pain into her life.

“No, no, I’m okay, El. Don’t make anything for me. Really, I’ll be okay,” He insists, but his voice cracks and the tears beat down his cheeks faster. El pulls him into another hug and Mike clings to her once more like he’s never going to let go. After a few minutes, El sits next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder and rubbing his back.

“Did- Did you and Lucas fight again?” El asks carefully, afraid of the answer.

“At the arcade,” Mike replies as El moves her fingers across his cheek to brush the tears away.

“At the arcade? Were Will and Dustin there?” Mike nods.

El’s eyebrows furrow.

“What happened?”

“It was the dumbest thing,” Mike begins to narrate, his face getting red just thinking about it. “So I beat his score on Dragon’s Lair, and he accused me of asking you to rig the machines so I could win!”

El frowns. “I didn’t help you cheat.”

“I know, I told him that! And then I said I don’t take advantage of my girlfriend’s skills like how Max drives him everywhere, and then I told him he was being an asshole to you by always coming late to your visits with him and-“

“Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“You should talk to him.”

“Talk to him?” Mike repeats incredulously. “Talk to him?! El, he’s insulted you, me, and our relationship! I’m not making up with him after that! And besides, he doesn’t care about me anymore, anyways. I told you he never radios me anymore, and in all the free time he has, he hangs out with Dustin and Will instead of me,” Furious again, Mike gets up and paces back and forth on the cabin floor. “You know, what? I’m done with Lucas. Done. He can still be a part of the party, but I don’t need to talk to him anymore. Hell, I can teach Hopper how to play Dungeons and Dragons if he wants to be our ranger!”

“Mike, you don’t mean that.”

“Yes I do! Your dad would make a great ranger!” Mike insists, but he and El both know how ridiculous he sounds. No one could replace Lucas, and he didn’t want anyone to, even Hopper, who Mike had thought about asking to join their games sometime.

“Mike,” El says. He loves the way she says his name, she savors it like the taste of chocolate on her tongue. She treats his name like it’s special, like he’s so special, when really it was so ordinary and plain. It makes Mike stop in his tracks and melt a little.

“Come back.” Mike sighs as he walks back to the couch and sits next to El.

“I-I don’t know what to do, El,” He admits as he tries not to cry again.

“You both have been fighting so long,” She says, moving her fingers up and down his arm. “You miss him, Mike. And he misses you.”

“No he doesn’t!”

“He does.”

Mike looks into her eyes, and there’s this sincerity and truth and wisdom in them that exists in no one else’s. Why was El so… so kind and understanding after everything she had been through? She and Mike both had very strong emotions, yet she was able to forgive people more quickly and easily than he ever had been able to.

“Mike. He’s your best friend. You are his best friend. You love each other,” She steadies her eyes on his with certainty. “Don’t throw away your friendship because of some fights. Don’t-don’t give up on it because of one disagreement, okay?”

Looking at El, Mike thinks about how she’s speaking from personal experience. She didn’t give up on Mike when he got mad at her when he thought she lied about Will dying, and when she threw Lucas in the junkyard, and she didn’t give up on Hopper after they had a glass-shattering fight. If El could find it in her heart to forgive them, then he could forgive his best friend of thirteen years.

“Okay,” Mike agrees. A huge smile spreads across his face now. “You’re right, you’re right. El, why are you so smart?”

El gazes at him with shy, happy eyes, the same eyes she gave him when he told her she looked beautiful at the SnowBall. Seeing how cute she is, Mike folds her into a giant hug.

“I’m sorry,” El says softly after they move away from each other.

“What? What is it El?” He asks, matching her soft tone while he takes her hands, making her smile even more. Mike’s heart does flip-flops in his chest.

“I forgot to give you hot cocoa,” El moves in to kiss his cheek.

“El, you don’t need to give me hot cocoa,” Mike assures, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “You comforted me enough already. You always do.” Mike swings her hands, and he didn’t know it was possible for El to look even cuter when she smiles even wider.

“Yes, but it’s a tradition we have hot cocoa when we’re sad, remember?” El kisses Mike’s fingertips before she tugs him into the kitchen playfully, making Mike grin from ear to ear. El was always determined to make traditions with Mike. So far, they cuddled in the pillowfort when she visited him on Sundays and had brunch with Hopper in the cabin on the first Saturday of the month.

“If we’re going to have hot cocoa, then we need to have Eggos, too,” Mike insists, kissing El’s forehead and then her cheek again. He can feel her beaming, and his heart fills knowing he can make her feel safe and loved and happy, just like she deserves to be.

“Do we eat Eggos when we’re sad too?” She smiles, her eyes full, teasing and sparkling. Mike laughs. El ate Eggos with everyone (even more with Hopper than with him) but they joked that Eggos was their food, since Mike was the one who introduced them to her. Mike shared the same love of Eggos El had, and besides Dustin, the rest of their friends thought Eggos were gross.

“We eat Eggos all the time, remember?” Mike teases back. “Sleepovers, weekends, birthdays, anniversaries...”

“Midnight,” Eleven reminds him. There’s a twinkle in her eye, and Mike beams, remembering that Hopper made them an Eggo Extravaganza on New Year’s Eve. He and El were giggling for a good five minutes because Hopper got whipped cream all over their beard and couldn’t figure out what they were laughing about.

“Midnight,” Mike says, and he knows by the way he repeats after her like when they make promises that Eggo Extravaganzas on New Year’s Eve is going to be another one of their traditions for the years to come.

El leans up to kiss his cheek again, and Mike heart thumps against his chest. How did she make him feel so happy when he was so sad just half an hour ago?

“El?”

“Yes, Mike?”

“Thank you for everything,” He shakes his head, and he can feel happy tears glinting in his eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, honestly. You amaze me.”

“You amaze me too, Mike,” She hugs him once again before finally opening up the cupboard to get the hot cocoa mix. “You better make up with Lucas when you go back, though, promise?”

And like a reflex, Mike says,

“Promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Part two where Lucas and Mike talk it out coming soon!


End file.
